Always There
by SuperGroverAway
Summary: We take a brief glimpse into the future to find Dipper Pines tending to his distraught sister, as together they prepare themselves for potentially life-changing news.


For most of Mabel's life, the word "torture" always evoked gruesome mental images of rusty medieval contraptions, or secret dimly lit rooms staffed by fearsome government agents like the ones that she saw in movies. Never would she have ever thought of seriously associating it with the plain white walls and piped music of a doctor's waiting room. However, at that moment she felt like there was no other way to describe the anxiety that currently dogged her, and mercilessly so.

The young woman drummed her fingers on the armrest. Normally, she'd put up a stiff fight with some calming knitting, but unfortunately, that wasn't an option at the moment. Mabel looked into her purse at the tiny half-done hat, and found that she couldn't even glance at it for more than a moment before the sight made her heart lurch.

Hastily she looked away and checked the clock for what must have been the third time in the last five minutes alone. Maybe she should call him again. Only a moment later though she threw out that thought with a grimace. Two calls, three voicemails, and five text messages was probably more than enough for one morning.

A flash of panic jolted her. How badly had she gone overboard? Would he be too annoyed to even show up? She wouldn't really be able to blame him considering just how much of a mess she had been all weekend, and the countless hours he had spent hearing her cry over the phone.

Just as she had started resigning herself to the idea that she was about to go through this alone, the door opened and a familiar face appeared.

"Sorry, I hit traffic on-" The young man had barely stepped into the waiting room when his sister bolted out of her seat with a relieved gasp. In an instant Dipper found himself bound off in a grateful squeeze.

"_OOF_! H-hey there…" He managed to gasp as she hugged hard. Mabel continued to hold tightly for a good five seconds, and didn't let go until her brother said softly, "Uh...Mabel?"

"Oh! S-sorry." She muttered sheepishly. For the first time that day she flashed the closest thing she could manage to a genuine smile. "I'm just...just happy that you could show up."

He grinned back. "Well, you said Mel wouldn't be back in town in time. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Yeah, he's still pretty bummed he couldn'tt be here. But he'll be back home by tomorrow." She nodded appreciatively as they each took a seat in the inexplicably rock-hard chairs. "Good thing the museum gave you some time off."

"If anyone asks though, I'm fighting off a bad case of the flu today." He cracked. This got a chuckle out of her, but only a feeble one. A couple seconds ticked by. Mabel bit her lip and attempted some nervous small talk.

"So how's Wendy?"

"She's good."

"Oh. That's...nice." She murmured distractedly, her mind simultaneously wandering to a dozen places at once.

Dipper frowned. To say that his sister wasn't herself would be putting it criminally lightly. Not only was she abnormally subdued, but deep circles under her eyes signaled a recent lack of sleep. He leaned over and gently pat her shoulder. "I told you yesterday, it'll be okay."

Mabel sighed and buried her face in her hands. She dearly wanted to believe this gentle comfort from her twin. However, for once in her life her signature optimism was nowhere to be found. "I...I hope so to, but…"

Without even thinking she placed a hand protectively over her belly and whimpered. "You know what the doctors said on Thursday. They told us there was an-"

"Irregular heartbeat." He finished. "I know, I know. But look, they make mistakes sometimes. You'll get checked out, and everything's going to be all right."

"Maybe." She murmured, but she sounded unconvinced.

Her brother's presence wasn't doing as much good as either of them would have liked. The stress of the past several days was still hammering hard at the gates of her already battered psyche. Dipper only had to take one look at the pain in her eyes to see that she not only wasn't paying an ounce of attention to his generic assurances, but she was busy serving herself a fresh serving of guilt, as if she already hadn't been steadily gorging herself on it all weekend.

"I've been thinking about it some more..." She began to fret, almost mechanically so. "I...I know what you've been telling me, but I just think..."

"Mabel, c'mon." Dipper immediately could tell where there was going. He protested to no avail.

"...I had to have done something wrong, right? I've been reading all the books and stuff, but maybe I messed up...maybe I haven't been eating right, or sleeping wrong..."

"Mabel, don't-"

"...Or I drank something by accident, and...I-I really don't know. I've been thinking it over and over and over, and Still have no idea, but I know that-"

"Mabel!" Dipper snapped, involuntarily snapped. Mabel went dead silent and gawked in wide-eyed surprise. Hastily he backtracked.

"Sorry." He gestured apologetically. "You were just kind of going a little overboard again."

"Yeah, but maybe not." She sniffled, cutting a perfect picture of abject misery. "If it's not me, whose fault is it? Dipper, I'm the one who's supposed to make sure everything's okay. I-I'm..."

Mabel wiped her watering eyes and lowered her voice. "I'm...I-I'm the mommy."

Moving fast, he grabbed hold of her hand. He wasn't going to just sit back and listen to her cry herself ragged yet again.

"Look, whatever happens, you will get through it." He declared steadfastly. "Okay? That's a-"

"You're only saying that." She muttered gloomily before Dipper cut her off again. He loved her too much to have any more of this. Of course the young man had come prepared for this.

"Am I?" he shot back. "When you spend almost every moment of an entire childhood with someone, then you learn a couple of things about them."

"Huh?" She cocked her head curiously.

"Like how no matter what, not only will they be able to handle anything that life throws their way." He said, very matter-of-factly. "And I mean anything."

His twin mulled over this for a few moments as she absentmindedly cradled her belly. Mabel barely opened her mouth before he beat her to the punch, and let loose with a long and extravagant list of examples.

"Facing down a horde of gnomes, traveling in time, being possessed by ghosts, facing off a part-discarded Summerween candy, part I-don't-even-know-what monster, Gideon Gleeful...do these ring a bell?"

She wiped her eyes and nodded. Still not getting the response he wanted, Dipper carried on almost effortlessly. "The goblin slavers, Bill Cipher, were-badgers, killer wax statues, Gideon again, that giant floating island-head, getting your mind switched, fungus giant, that time when Gideon broke out of jail, the ice banshee, the blood demons, when Gideon broke out of jail _again_, dealing with real-live dinosaurs...the pterodactyl? Really? You're going to forget all about that?

"Well...no..." She averted her gaze. He raised her chin and gazed her right in the eye.

"Okay, let me repeat that. A real. Live. _Pterodactyl_." He repeated. Mabel struggled to fight the urge, but it was no use. Her brother could clearly see the corners of her mouth start to curl into the beginnings of a smile.

"Aw...c'mon…" she protested, but only feebly so as her spirit was given a small but badly needed boost. Dipper flashed her a reassuring grin.

"Where a lot of other people wouldn't be able to keep it together for one second, you always come out on top, smiling and laughing, and so unfazed it almost breaks my mind thinking about it. And you know why?"

"...Why?" she asked. Grinning a little more, her brother winked as he went in for the kill.

"Because that's the Mabel difference, of course." He joked. Much to his immense relief, he got a genuine laugh out of her, and just in the nick of time. A chipper nurse finally popped into the sterile waiting room and piped up briskly.

"Mabel?"

Mabel looked to her brother. Dipper gave her a hand a comforting squeeze.

"That's me." she chirped.

"We're ready for you." The nurse gestured curtly. The young woman took a few deep breaths as she rose to her feet.

"So...do you want me to come in?" Dipper asked as he helped her up. She mulled the offer for a moment.

"No." Before he could react, she explained hastily. "I'd...I'd rather be the first one to learn...it's okay..."

She pat his arm and mustered up another feeble smile. "I-I can handle this. Remember?"

"How could I forget?" The two shared a hearty hug for good measure. "Pat, pat."

"Pat, pat." She replied in kind, and inquired for good measure, "You'll still be here, right?"

"Not when I'm double-parked." He threw in one final joke, rousing one more chuckle out of her. She pulled herself together, then quietly followed the nurse out of the room.

He had done all he could do. There was nothing left to do except just wait and hope that his reassurances had a hint of truth to them. As the heavy knot in his chest tightened painfully, he took a scrap of solace in the fact that he could finally stop holding in the anxiety that had been eating him up all morning. Dipper slumped limply into his seat with a weary grunt. The last few days had been utter hell for everyone.

The young man didn't know how much time passed. He made a point of not checking the time. Instead he tried to distract himself reading one of the many old dog-eared magazines lying about. Of course, focusing on the words proved to near impossible, but he tried to soldier on nonetheless. His leg incessantly bounced up and down, as if it had a mind of its own.

After what felt like a lifetime of waiting. An earsplitting shriek echoed throughout the whole practice, nearly giving the shocked receptionist a mild heart-attack on the spot. Dipper jerked upright with a start as his relief immediately skyrocketed through the stratosphere. He could tell the difference between his sister's screams of dismay and delight, and the din assaulting his ears was nothing less than pure, unbridled joy.

The young man almost deflated as the nervous tension rushed from his muscles. It was all right. His future niece or nephew was going to be fine. Relief quickly escalated to excitement, and soon he could barely sit still. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait much longer before Mabel hurtled back into the room, wearing a smile so gigantic that it threatened to fall off her face. He took one look into her shining brown eyes and instantly knew his sister as he knew her was back.

"Dipper! Dipper Dipper Dipper Dipper!" She flailed her arms and jabbered ecstatically. "_TWINS_!"

Her brother pumped his arm in the air and whooped. "That's right! Nothing gets the Pines down! N-"

"No!" She breathlessly tried to explain. "Dipper, it wasn't one bad heartbeat! It was two awesome ones! _Two_!"

Realization hit him like a speeding truck. Dipper tumbled back into his seat, barely able to believe his own two ears. "Wait...wait...hold on..."

He looked like he was about to say something of note, then collapsed back into a stunned heap as he struggled to wrap his mind around everything. "Okay, wait...wait..."

Mabel's eyes welled up. "It looks like you need to double your uncle budget, and..and p-pronto."

She burst out half-sobbing, half-laughing. Without thinking, her brother got up and wrapped his arms around her, and she responded in kind by giving him the largest, most rib-bruising hug he had ever received. Even as she squeezed his organs, Dipper couldn't help but gasp incredulously, "T-twins..."

"Twins! Twins!" Mabel squealed. Soon both were repeating the word as they bounced up and down and laughed hysterically like a pair of loons. Neither one was sure how long the celebration lasted, but by the time they finally settled down, the receptionist had long since pretended that there was some business that she had to tend to in the back. The two siblings took a moment to try and catch their breaths and clean up tear-streaked cheeks.

Dipper dug his car keys from his pocket. "So….how about-"

"You gonna go all mushy on me again, Captain Cornball?" Mabel teased, returning to normal goofy form. He rolled his eyes in mock-exasperation.

"I was thinking more alone the lines of a celebratory lunch before you call your hubby with the good news. You in? My treat."

"Ooooh, he's gonna freak!" She whooped excitedly. "And you sure about lunch? Watch what you say, Dippingsauce, because we're totally gonna clear out your wallet. All three of us."

"Eat as much as you want. All I ask for is full naming rights." He jokingly fired back. "Right now I'm thinking something like 'Dipper One' and 'Dipper Two'."

"Oh, really? Well, lets get their opinion, shall we?" she looked down and asked, "Hey kids, what do you think about that?"

Mabel grabbed her stomach and shook it gently as she spoke in a comical squeak. "No way! That's gotta be the worst name in the whole wide world!"

"Uh-huh!" She switched to a slightly shriller pitch. "'Dipper?' Seriously? Why don't you just call us Dumbelina and Stupid McIdiot-Face?"

"C'mon." He laughed, beckoning towards the exit. "Before I change my mind."

With a skip in her step, Mabel bounced along by his side. Excitement like nothing else she had ever felt before coursed through every ounce of her being, and she couldn't help but start planning up a storm.

"Oooh, so much to do!" She clapped her hands. "I have to make two of everything! Two cute little winter hats, two scarves, two adorable pairs of mittens...what else...oh! I really need get started on painting their room! What do you think sounds better? I was thinking of an awesome fall theme, with lots of oranges and browns and reds and...no, wait, wait, what about a sky and white puffy clouds? Actually, scrath that. They're my babies, not cliches. Oooh! Oooh! No, beach scene! YEAH! I can see it now! Blue sky, a big wavy sea, and a beach with a lighthouse, umbrellas, seashells..."

She chattered away at a mile a minute, while her brother just listened and chuckled. After the exited into the parking lot, she leaned over to wrap an arm around her brother's waist for one more quick squeeze. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"I told you, everything was going to be all right, didn't I?" He reminded happily. She nodded, rubbed her belly lovingly, then flashed a wicked smile.

"For now, at least. When do you think they're gonna meet _their_ first mechanical lake monster? Or their first crazy child psychic?"

Dipper made a face, which promptly earned him an affectionate shove. "If their uncle honestly gets anything to say about it, then hopefully never…"


End file.
